2001 Little League World Series

2001 Little League World Series
Dates	August 17–August 26
Teams participating	16
Champion	Kitasuna Little League Tokyo, Japan
Runner-up	National Little League Apopka, Florida
← 2000 Little League World Series 2002 →

The 2001 Little League World Series took place between August 17 and August 26 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Kitasuna Little League of Tokyo, Japan defeated Apopka National Little League of Apopka, Florida in the championship game of the 55th Little League World Series. This tournament saw the expansion of pool play to 16 teams, eight from the United States, and eight from around the world. Little League Volunteer Stadium was built to accommodate the number of added games that would be played in the pool stage, and it would also host the consolation game.

Following the conclusion of the tournament, Danny Almonte, a pitcher from the team representing the Mid-Atlantic, would be the center of a scandal where it was discovered that Almonte was not eligible to play in the tournament because he was two years over the maximum age limit. Because of this, the Mid-Atlantic team was forced to forfeit every game in the tournament they participated in retroactively.

The 2001 Little League World Series was also the first ever that had a female umpire to call the championship game: Flora Stansbury from Seneca, Missouri. U.S. President George W. Bush, himself a little leaguer as a child, was also in attendance at the championship game.

Nobuhisa Baba's single in the bottom of the sixth drove in the winning run.

Qualification[]

Between five and twelve teams take part in 16 regional qualification tournaments, which vary in format depending on region. In the United States, the qualification tournaments are in the same format as the Little League World Series itself: a round-robin tournament followed by an elimination round to determine the regional champion.

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Lincoln, RI New England Lincoln	Bronx, NY Mid-Atlantic Bronx	Santiago de Veraguas Latin America Santiago de Veraguas	Hagåtña Pacific Guam
Oceanside, CA West American	Bainbridge Island, WA Northwest Bainbridge Island	Willemstad, Curaçao Caribbean Pariba	Calgary Canada West
Brownsburg, IN Great Lakes Brownsburg	Davenport, IA Midwest East	Dhahran Transatlantic Arabian-American	Moscow Europe Khovrino
Lake Charles, LA Gulf States South Lake Charles	Apopka, FL Southeast National	Tokyo Asia Kitasuna	Matamoros Mexico Matamoros

Pool play[]

The top two teams in each pool moved on to the elimination round.

Pool A

Region	Record
Indiana	3-0
California	2-1
Louisiana	1-2
Rhode Island	0-3

Pool B

Region	Record
Florida	2-1
Washington	1-2
Iowa	0-3
New York	DSQ

August 17

Rhode Island	0-8	California
Indiana	2-0	Louisiana

August 18

New York	0-6	Florida
Washington	4-3	Iowa
Rhode Island	1-5	Indiana

August 19

Florida	2-0	Washington
California	5-2	Louisiana

August 20

Iowa	6-0	New York
Rhode Island	2-5	Louisiana
Indiana	2-1	California

August 21

Washington	6-0	New York
Florida	10-3	Iowa

International[]

Pool C

Region	Record
Curaçao	2-1
Japan	2-1
Saudi Arabia	1-2
Panama	1-2

Pool D

Region	Record
Guam	3-0
Mexico	2-1
Canada	1-2
Russia	0-3

August 17

Transatlantic

2-4

Asia

August 18

Mexico	5-6	Pacific
Caribbean	3-2	Latin America
Europe	1-5	Canada

August 19

Transatlantic

3-10

Caribbean

August 20

Canada	5-6	Mexico
Europe	0-5	Pacific
Asia	1-6	Latin America

August 21

Pacific	6-5	Canada
Mexico	2-0	Europe
Asia	4-2	Caribbean
Transatlantic	11-0† (5 innings)	Latin America

† Game ended by "mercy rule" (at least 10-run difference through 5 innings)

Elimination rounds[]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	August 22 - Lamade (Game ended by mercy rule)
	Tokyo, Japan	15
					August 25 - Lamade
	Matamoros, Mexico	5
					Tokyo, Japan	2
	August 23 - Lamade
					Willemstad, Curaçao	1
	Hagåtňa, Guam	3
									August 26 - Lamade
	Willemstad, Curaçao	4
									Tokyo, Japan	2
	August 22 - Lamade
									Apopka, Florida	1
	Brownsburg, Indiana	1
					August 25 - Lamade Forfeit: Mid-Atlantic used ineligible player
	Apopka, Florida	6
					Apopka, Florida	6
	August 23 - Lamade Forfeit: Mid-Atlantic used ineligible player
					Bronx, New York	0			Third place
	Bronx, New York	0
									August 26 - Volunteer Forfeit: Mid-Atlantic used ineligible player
	Oceanside, California	6
									Bronx, New York	0
									Willemstad, Curaçao	6

2001 Little League World Series Champions
Kitasuna Little League Tokyo, Japan

Champions path[]

The Kitasuna LL reached the LLWS with an undefeated record of four wins and no losses.^[1] In total, their record was 9–1, their only loss coming in the LLWS qualifying round against Santiago de Veraguas LL of Panama.

Round	Opposition	Result
All-Tokyo Tournament
Opening Round	Ryuugasaki LL	11-4
Quarterfinals	Suzaka LL	6-1
Semifinals	Matsusaka LL	12-8
Japan Championship	Nagoya Kita LL	5-4

Notable players[]

• Danny Almonte
• Francisco Peña (Bronx, New York) Baltimore Orioles catcher. Son of Tony Peña
• Ruben Tejada () Baltimore Orioles infielder

References[]

External links[]

• 2001 official results via Wayback Machine